Set up a Custom Domain Shortener for Friendbuy Referral Links

Written by Support Updated over a week ago

If your Friendbuy account plan supports the option to use a Custom Domain Shortener for your referral links, you may create and use your own shortener instead of the default URL "fbuy.me." Adding a Custom Domain Shortener better reflects your brand.

Examples of Custom Domain Shorteners are:

shaved.by (Dollar Shave Club)

warby.me (Warby Parker)

nbox.me (NatureBox)

birch.ly (BirchBox)

Shaved.by and warby.me are examples of naked domains – domains without a ‘www’ prefix or any other prefix. You can also use a subdomain – e.g. instead of nbox.me you could use something like my.nbox.me. Using a naked domain requires an additional step for configuration, as described below.

To implement a Custom Domain Shortener for your Friendbuy referral links, you will need:

A naked domain or a subdomain for dedicated use as your Custom Domain Shortener

Administrative access to your domain’s DNS

Authorization from Friendbuy that your account level supports using a Custom Domain Shortener

If you are using a naked domain (i.e. nbox.me):

Sign in to your domain hosting service

Navigate to your DNS Management page

Create a CNAME record

In the Host Name/Alias field, create a subdomain by adding a prefix to your naked domain. Any prefix will do. We recommend something like ref.nbox.me

In the Value/Destination field, set the destination of your CNAME record to redirect.friendbuy.com

Use a “301 redirect” to redirect your naked domain (nbox.me) to the subdomain you created in your CNAME record (ref.nbox.me).

Save the changes to your DNS records.

If you are using a subdomain (i.e. my.nbox.me):

Sign in to your domain hosting service

Navigate to your DNS Management page

Create a CNAME record

In the Host Name/Alias field, enter your subdomain – i.e. my.nbox.me

In the Value/Destination field, set the destination of your CNAME record to redirect.friendbuy.com

Save the changes to your DNS records.

Submit a support ticket

After completing the above steps to configure your naked domain or subdomain, then please contact us via support ticket. Please include the following information:

Please send us your Custom Domain Shortener.

Notes:

If not already set, please create a Fallback URL. Go to SETTINGS > FALLBACK URL and input the domain where users are sent in case the path of your custom shortener is not valid. For example, if a user makes a typo when sharing their referral link (PURL) manually, Friendbuy will direct clicks on the erroneous link to your fall-back URL instead of to an error page. Friendbuy recommends using your homepage as your fall-back URL.

Changes to your CNAME records can take up to 72 hours to propagate.

Your naked domain or subdomain may only be used with your Friendbuy program.